Arizona's other grand canyon

Antelope House view

Anyone not looking for Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “Shay”) could be forgiven for thinking that the town of Chinle hid little in the way of geologic wonders. 

But the walls of the Rio de Chelly quickly rise from 30 feet to 1,000 feet in spots, and exposed some spectacular ruins more than 800 years old. Even in the Grand Canyon State, many consider Canyon de Chelly is Arizona’s prettiest canyon. I quickly found myself agreeing. Maybe one canyon should not get to hold that title.

The massive fins of red rock immediately reminded me of Bighorn Canyon on the Wyoming-Montana border. how the overlook points stood 1,000 feet above the canyon floor and how bends in the river formed a canyon that one cannot soon forget. Navajo culture emerged from the canyon, and they call it Tsegi, a sacred home for their people and culture. 

Because of all the bends and the creeks on the canyon bottom, it was carpeted in rich green grasses and many thick stands of cottonwood trees. Dirt roads cut through the grasses because Canyon de Chelly had another unusual feature – full-time residents. 

Unlike many national park units, access to the canyon floor is limited because people still live in the canyon. Human habitation goes back 5,000 years From the rim overlooks, you can spot Navajo hogans spread along the canyon floor. Only the White House ruins can be accessed without a Native guide, and the pandemic has kept the White House Overlook and Trail closed. At the Tsegi overlook, you can see the canyon floor farmlands that sustain its residents. 

I spent much of my time on the North Rim overlooks. There are more on the South Rim, but the north drew fewer people to its three lookouts. I counted five other people, and none at the Antelope House overlook. 

Massacre Cave

At the last overlook on the north rim lies Massacre Cave. In 1805, a group of 115 Navajo tried to hide in the cave from a group of passing Spaniards, who shot them from higher ground on the canyon rim.. Patchy snow clung to the canyon walls among the scrubby desert plants. The silence ran thick. 

There's forgetting Canyon de Chelly is a nexus of Navajo and a very ancient place. Mummy Cave and Antelope House are both home to multi-story ruins worthy of those at Mesa Verde. The Mesa Verde architectural resemblance is no coincidence at Mummy Cave, as migrating people from Mesa Verde built the towers on the main cave ledge. 

Antelope House stood against the canyon wall and features an unusual circular plaza. The full ruin was not excavated until the 1970s. Here the much smaller Black Rock canyon runs into Canyon Del Muerto (canyon of death). 

Here it’s hard to focus on anything but Antelope House; it sticks with the visitor high above on the canyon lip, not another human in sight aside from cars on the canyon floor. The wind flapped and I was just a dot atop the canyon, as the people on the bottom from these heights. 

At the end of the south rim, the most iconic feature of Canyon de Chelly. Spider Rock rises 800 feet from the canyon floor, and draws most of the passersby on the southern rim. 

The Junction overlook was crowded for this country and time of year, as it marks the merger of the national monuments major canyons, Canyon del Muerto and Canyon de Chelly. 

While I want more hours to explore the magnificent canyon, I had even lesser known spots on the Navajo Reservation to explore. None of that makes the scenic depths of Canyon de Chelly any easier to leave.